Pokemon fans are known for their passion for the franchise and releases like Pokemon Uranium prove that. Released in 2016, it doesn’t fit alongside the mainline releases in the series, as its production history was a very different story. Along the lines of Pokemon Orange Version, it’s a labor of love, produced by fans to pay homage to the franchise. We’ve got all the details on its history and availability here.
What is Pokemon Uranium? Can I download it?
If you’re an avid Pokemon fan and haven’t heard of Pokemon Uranium, then fear not. You haven’t missed the latest big release. Instead, it’s a fan-made game that came out in 2016, developed by someone named “~JV ~”.
Designed as a tribute to early Pokemon games like Red and Blue, it introduced over 160 entirely new and fan-designed Pokemon, living in the Tandor region. Development on Uranium took nine years. However, when it was finally ready for release, Nintendo’s legal team stepped in.
The game launched in August 2016, but less than a month later, Nintendo hit it with several DMCA takedown notices. The developers reluctantly shelved the game and ended official development – but this wasn’t the end for Pokemon Uranium. A vibrant fan community resurrected the game, created a fansite to host downloads, and continue to update it now. Community is at the core of Uranium, as it includes online battling and trading mechanics to connect with other players.
Despite its good intentions of upholding the franchise’s pixelated roots, it must be stressed that there’s no official way to play the game due to its fan-made nature. That means you can’t just buy a cartridge of Uranium, or find it on the Switch store. Instead, it’s available by unofficial means, which we can’t get into here. As always, be careful when downloading games from unofficial sources, as it’s difficult to know what can be trusted.
